Word: mp
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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About one in the morning, a bunch of us drove out to Arlington National Cemetery. A half dozen MP's with jeeps and rifles and all manner of meanness barred us from entering. They told us that the beginning of the March Against Death had been moved down to the Memorial Bridge, then told us to move...
...whole spirit of the confrontation changed when some 500 demonstrators broke through the line of MP's from the North and raced toward the Mall entrance. While only two or three of the demonstrators actually made it to the door, hundreds of them sat down near the entrance. A number of them were lugged off to paddy wagons. Those who remained, still hemmed in by the MP's, began to settle down for the night. By then, many of the reporters decided that the action was over and that they had worked a full day. But in truth the violence...
Word apparently had been passed to the troops that the last charge by the group of demonstrators who rushed the Pentagon doors was sufficient reason for cracking down on the protestors. The Marshals began to push the MP's forward until they were pressed against the sitting demonstrators. Then they would tell an unfortunate protestor to move-an absurd request because the seated crowd was packed knee to knee. When he didn't move, they clubbed him and anyone who tried to hold onto him. Many of the demonstrators pleaded with the soldiers to drag people out instead of clubbing...
...food. SDS loud speakers announced that three of the guards had defected and had then been recaptured by the military. Although it is hard to verify the defections, a number of the demonstrators say they saw at least one of the defectors. Right after the first announcement that an MP had "dropped his rifle, taken off his belt and helmet, and walked into the crowd," a soldier missing his rifle, belt, and helmet was marched (under what appeared to be armed guard) up the steps of the Pentagon and into the building...
Around 10 p.m. when the harassment started up again, units from the 82nd Airborne were brought in to replace the MP's. As they stepped into line, one by one, they stamped to attention and slapped the metal butts of their carbines on the concrete making a frightening sound. While the MP's looked like a bunch of frightened kids in uniform, the paratroopers looked tough and disciplined. The next two hours proved that they were as tough as they looked; as the soldiers inched further into the crowd more people were beaten and torn away from those who tried...